Vigilance: Bhubaneswar, (Reporterspen), Nov 8: On Friday, Odisha Vigilance officials arrested Dr. Biswajit Bhuyan, the Medical Officer In-Charge of Boipariguda Community Health Centre (CHC) in Koraput, and Uttam Mahankuda, a pharmacist from the Mobile Health Unit of the National Health Mission (NHM), for allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹40,000.
The two were caught red-handed on the hospital premises while taking the bribe money from a CHC staffer in exchange for releasing her arrear salary. The full amount was recovered and seized by Vigilance officials.
According to the Vigilance Department, the complainant, who had been working as a contractual nursing officer, had her service regularized. In July, the government authorized the release of differential financial benefits as arrears from October 2022, totaling ₹4,83,572. Despite repeated requests, Dr. Bhuyan demanded 10% of the arrears as a bribe and threatened to transfer her to a remote area if she refused to comply.
This is not the first time Dr. Bhuyan has faced allegations of corruption, with previous reports of him demanding bribes and misusing CHC vehicles.
Simultaneous searches are currently being conducted at three locations linked to Dr. Bhuyan and one location connected to Mahankuda to investigate whether they have accumulated assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.
